REFORMED WITNESS
Volume IV, May 1996, Number 5
"Promise Keepers": What Should Be Our Response?
Abriged from a pamphlet of the same title by Rev. Ronald Cammenga
From time to time it is necessary for the Christian church to make judgments regarding popular movements of the day. This is not a pleasant thing to have to do. Nevertheless we believe it a necessary part of the work of the church. The apostle John admonishes us in I John 4:1; "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone into the world." In the case of the "Promise Keepers" movement we are dealing with an extremely popular movement. Often when there is a movement that has a very large following many go along with the excitement of it and will accept no criticism of it. We believe that there are a number of very serious errors in the "Promise Keepers" movement that must be criticized. The true church of Jesus Christ and the individual believer needs to be warned about them. Though almost everyone is going alone with the latest movement to sweep the Evangelical world not everyone is doing so. For those who are concerned about this movement and its impact on the church world at large we have several what we believe are excellent critiques of the movement that we want to make available to our readers. All are free of charge. We will list them at the end of this paper. We believe this subject to be particularly relevant for our California readers because a huge Promise Keepers Rally is planned this month to be held at the Anaheim Stadium.
For this month's issue of THE REFORMED WITNESS we want to publish part of a paper given at a conference held in Iowa that we attended recently. In order to fit this paper in the limited space we have we are presenting an abridged version of it. We encourage you to write for the full text of the paper. This paper was presented by Rev. Ronald Cammenga who is minister of the Word in the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. What follows is taken directly from this paper.
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Across our country men by the thousands are flocking to convention centers and sports stadiums. The attraction is not rock groups or football games. Instead they have come together to learn how to be better husbands and fathers. The meetings are conducted by Promise Keepers (PK), a men's ministry based in Boulder, Colorado.
Enthusiasm for PK is widespread. Support for PK crosses all denominational lines. Churches and church leaders of every conceivable stripe (Baptist, Charismatic, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Reformed) are endorsing the PK movement. Clergymen in all these different churches are promoting attendance at PK meetings and use PK literature at the local church level.
It seems that everyone who has attended PK meetings has only positive things to say about the experience. They come away with rave reviews of the speeches, the singing, and the fellowship. There are testimonies of changed lives and renewed commitments--all credited to PK. If eyebrows are raised or concerns expressed, the comeback is invariably: "Just go to one of the meetings. You'll see and you'll change your mind."
THE HISTORY OF PROMISE KEEPERS
PK is the brain-child of Bill McCartney, then head coach of the University of Colorado football team. In March of 1990, as a result of discussions with Dr. Dave Wardell, with whom McCartney was traveling to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet, the idea of such a men's ministry was born. In the next several weeks, encouraged by others whom he sought out and who came together for prayer and planning, PK began to take shape. In the summer of 1990 McCartney spoke in a number of churches along the Front Range of Colorado. In his presentations McCartney emphasized the need for men of integrity --promise keepers. This soon was taken over as the name of the newly founded men's ministry.
PK has experienced phenomenal growth from its very beginning. Its first conference was held in June of 1991. 4,200 men gathered at the University of Colorado Coors Events Center to hear presentations developing the main theme of the conference, "Where Are the Men?" The men who attended were challenged to bring at least 12 other men with them to the 1992 PK conference.
The theme of the 1992 PK conference was "What Makes a Man?". 1,500 clergymen and lay leaders gathered for the first National leadership conference, and 22,000 men from nearly every state convened at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field.
The goal of the 1993 PK conference was to fill Folsom Field. The conference theme was, "Face To Face." Over 50,000 men attended. The second National Leadership Conference was attended by over 3,000 pastors and lay leaders.
1994 was a significant year for PK. This year the conference schedule was expanded to include other cities. Besides Boulder, the conference theme, "Seize the Moment," was carried to Anaheim, California; Boise, Idaho; Indianapolis, Indiana; Denon, Texas; and Portland, Oregon. Over a quarter of a million men packed into the sold out stadiums to be part of PK.
Plans for 1996 were reported in the November 6, 1995 issue of "Time" magazine: "[PK...] is in the process of reserving 23 stadiums for 1996, with several more possible; the intended audience to approach 1.5 million. The group's total budget, $64 million for 1995, is expected to jump commensurately." In 1997 PK is planning its own million man march on Washington DC.
The philosophy of PK is summarized in the well-known "Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper." Every PK must subscribe to these seven promises.
Promise #1. A man and His God: A PK is committed to honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and obedience to God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Promise #2. A man and his mentors: A PK is committed to pursuing vital relationship with a few good men, understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises.
Promise #3. A man and His integrity: A PK is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.
Promise #4. A man and his family: A PK is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection, and Biblical values.
Promise #5. A man and his church: A PK is committed to supporting the mission of his church by honoring and praying for his pastor, and by actively giving his time and resources..
Promise #6. A man and his brothers; a PK is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of Biblical unity.
Promise #7. A man has his world: A PK is committed to influencing his world, being obedient to the great commandment and the great commission.
EVALUATION OF PROMISE KEEPERS
In my evaluation of PK, I am going to offering what I believe to be the six basic criticisms of PK. My criticisms will be aimed at evaluating PK from a Biblical perspective, specifically a Reformed perspective.
CRITICISM #1
PK PROMOTES UNITY AT THE EXPENSE OF THE TRUTH
There can be no question about it that PK intends to be an ecumenical force. This is an expressed purpose of PK and a theme that is reiterated at nearly every event. Praise is heaped on PK because of the impact it has had in breaking down denominational barriers. "Brothers" out of every conceivable church dotting the American ecclesiastical landscape are brought together by PK. At the PK conferences they hold hands in prayer and fellowship, sing together, share with one another, and resolve to stand by each other.
Promise #6 to which Pks commit themselves is "...to reach beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of Biblical unity." The existence of separate denominations of churches is viewed as an evil. Commitment to denominational distinctives of one's denomination is as serious a sin as racial prejudice. In his speech at the 1994 Promise Keepers "Seize the Moment" conference in Portland, Oregon, McCartney proclaimed: "Promise Keepers doesn't care if you're white. Do you love Jesus; are you born of the Spirit of God? Promise Keepers doesn't care if you're black. Do you love Jesus; are you born of the Spirit of God? Promise keepers doesn't care if you're brown. Do you love Jesus: are you born of the Spirit of God? Promise Keepers doesn't care if you're Pentecostal. Do you love Jesus; are you born of the Spirit of God? Hear me: Promise Keepers doesn't care if you're Catholic. Do you love Jesus; are you born of the Spirit of God?"
This disregard for doctrine and doctrinal distinctives shows itself in the array of speakers at the PK meetings. Featured on the same platform together are Arminians, like Bill Bright and Luis Palau; Pentecostals, like Jack Hayford and Chuck Smith; Dispensationalists like Charles Swindoll and Joe Stowell. Nearly every viewpoint is accepted, none excluded. Even Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses are cordially included in PK.
For the sake of unity, criticism of divergent positions is avoided by PK. In its manual describing the duties of Ambassadors, the following caution is issued: "Because Promise Keepers is committed to building relational bridges, Ambassadors must avoid negative political, doctrinal, and denominational remarks and discussions. In some cases, an Ambassador will encounter a church that is outside of his personal comfort zone in terms of cultural or denominational emphasis. If so, he should remember that he does not have to answer every question."
Any Reformed man attending a PK rally is brought directly into fellowship with those whom he has the most serious disagreements. He holds hands with, joins in prayer with, worships with those who are condemned in the strongest of terms by our Reformed Creeds. By that fellowship he turns his back on the whole history of the Reformed faith in its struggles to remain Reformed distinctives. That a Reformed minister can declare that after attending a PK conference he found nothing that is anti-Reformed, is not an indication of how good the PK movement is, but rather how bad things are in Reformed churches today.
This disregard for the truth cannot be squared with the Scriptures. According to I Timothy 3:15 the church is called to be the pillar and ground of the truth. The apostle John expresses that he has no greater joy than to hear that his children walk in the truth, III John 4. It is the truth, says Jesus in John 8:32, that makes men free. The Scriptures call the church, especially the leaders in the church to warn against false teachers and to separate from disobedient brethren. II Cor. 6:14-18; Gal. 1:6-10; Ephesians 5:11; II Thes. 3:6,14,15.
CRITICISM #2
PROMISE KEEPERS MAKES SERIOUS CONCESSIONS TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
A clear proof of the false ecumenicity of PK is the concessions that the movement makes to Roman Catholicism. It is not surprising that Roman Catholics are cordially received by PK. Both Bill McCartney, the founder of PK, and Randy Phillips, the president of PK, are former Roman Catholics.
McCartney made that plain in his remarks at the Portland, Oregon conference when he said: "Hear me: Promise Keepers doesn't care if you're Catholic. Do you love Jesus; are you born of the Spirit of God?" In an interview with Al Dager, in response to Dager's question on the issue of Catholicism: does Promise Keeprs have a policy on how to interact with Roman Catholics? Randy Phillips responded. "What we do care about is do you love Jesus, and are you born again by the Spirit of God? And so if you have been born again by the Spirit of God, then whatever the labels are should not divide us. So from that standpoint, all men are welcome, and certainly are whether you're Baptist, Pentecostal or Roman Catholic. If you are in the Body of Christ, then you should certainly be welcome."
In Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, Jack Hayford makes the following astonishing concession to Roman Catholic worship. "Redeeming worship centers on the Lord's Table. Whether your tradition celebrates it as Communion, Eucharist, the Mass, or the Lord's Supper, we are all called to this centerpiece of Christian worship. Jesus, the builder of the church, commanded that this regular practice be laid in the foundations of our observance as worshipers."
Amazing! Not only is the Roman Catholic worship of the Mass recognized as God-glorifying Christian worship, but the sacrament in whatever context it is celebrated is exalted to the "centerpiece of Christian worship." That is a clear rejection of the Reformed confession that not the sacraments, but the preaching of the Word is the chief means of grace. To a Reformed Christian the celebration of the mass by the church of Rome is an accursed idolatry. Rome is the false church.
CRITICISM #3
THE PROMISE KEEPERS IS A PARA-CHURCH ORGANIZATION THAT USURPS THE PREROGATIVES THAT GOD HAS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH.
Apparently PK has the highest regard for the prerogatives of the instituted church. (See Promise #5) Pastors and church leaders are praised and prayed for at PK gatherings. But the truth of the matter is that PK has a low view of the instituted church and is itself in competition with the church of Jesus Christ. God has given one organization the calling to engage in public preaching of His Word. That organization is the church. God has given one organization the responsibility to to evangelize sinners. That organization is the church. God has given one organization the duty to oversee the lives of the people of God. That organization is the church.
CRITICISM #4
PROMISE KEEPERS MAKES SERIOUS CONCESSIONS TO THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT.
There can be no question about the influence on PK of the charismatic movement. This influence pervades their books and magazines. To listen to their meetings on the radio, as I did some of the meetings that were held in the Pontiac Silverdome in April of 1995, is to be immediately struck with the Pentecostal influence. There was an obvious emotionalism and intentional stirring up of the emotions of the audience. There were spontaneous shouts and arm waving, alleged smitings of the Holy Spirit. Bill McCartney and Randy Phillips, the president of PK, are both charismatic. They are both members of the Vineyard Fellowship churches. The Vineyard Fellowship churches are not only charismatic, but radically charismatic. The Reformed church takes issue with the charismatic movement. The Reformed Christian rejects the teaching of the charismatics concerning the continuation of the special gifts, the teaching of Divine revelations alongside of and superseding the revelation in Scripture, and the worship practices of the charismatic churches.
CRITICISM #5
PROMISE KEEPERS COMPROMISE THE DOCTRINES OF SOVEREIGN GRACE.
For a Reformed Christian one of the most serious objections against PK is that is compromises the doctrines of sovereign grace. The sovereignty of God in salvation, a salvation of totally depraved sinners who are dead in their trespasses and sins, a salvation accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ that was particular and not for all men.
How can it be otherwise? PK coddles Roman Catholicism. But Rome is an enemy of sovereign grace! PK utilizes speakers like Bill Bright and Luis Palua. But Bright and Palau are blatant Arminians! PK is heavily influenced by the modern charismatic movement. But the charismatics deny the sovereignty of God in salvation and teach that faith is in the ability of every man! Some of the leading figures in PK are proponents of "Christian Psychology." But their teaching of self-love, self-esteem, self-improvement inveighs against the Reformed conception of the grace of God and the sinfulness of man. In his speech at the PK rally in Pontiac Silverdome in April of 1995, Bill McCartney defined the work of the Holy Spirit this way: "The Holy Spirit calls out the best in us." When I heard this statement over the radio, I wondered if any in our churches who were attracted to PK could continue to support this movement. This statement is not only un-Reformed; it is blasphemous. But still some will say, Reformed ministers will say, that they can find nothing anti-Reformed in PK. Do they have scales over their eyes?
CRITICISM #6
PROMISE KEEPERS UNDERMINES THE BIBLICAL TEACHING CONCERNING MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY.
"But at least PK is doing a great deal to promote family values," I can hear someone say. Men are being challenged to be faithful husbands and good fathers. And this is the need of the hour in our day. Who can deny that the decadence of American society is due to the breakdown of the family. And who can deny that men are primarily to blame. PK is to be commended for calling men to be men, Christian men, Christian husbands and Christian fathers. But. alas, In this respect too PK is not the solution, but is in itself a part of the problem. For all its emphasis on promise keeping in marriage and the family, PK is weighed and found wanting. This is true for at least two reasons.
First, PK condones unbiblical divorce and remarriage. Multitudes of men at the PK conferences are encouraged to go home and live faithfully with their wives. But for many of these men, the wife they are encouraged to go home and live faithfully with is their second or third wife. They are not called to break-off the unbiblical union and in repentance return to their original spouse. Instead their adultery is countenanced. Where is promise keeping here? (At the conference where this paper was presented this point was specially stressed in the discussion. What is the ultimate promise keeping in marriage if it is not to remain faithful to one's wife or husband for life?) PK condones unbiblical divorce and remarriage. For this reason, its efforts to strengthen Christian marriages and families are misdirected. All the energy put forth is wasted energy. The most serious crack in the foundation is unattended. Worse, PK exposes itself to the anger of the God who hates and prohibits unbiblical divorce and remarriage.
In my judgment, PK promotes an unbiblical male bonding, a male bonding that violates the sanctity, the exclusiveness, and the intimacy of marriage. There is a great deal of emphasis on mentoring. (See Promise #2) Part of the PK program is involvement in small men's groups. These groups are encounter groups. In these groups men are asked pointed questions about their financial, social, spiritual, and sexual lives -- no holds barred! They must open up and talk freely and frequently with these other men concerning intimacies of their relationship with their wives. This is a violation of the marriage bed, as much a violation as adultery itself. It is a betrayal of one's spouse and the exclusive relationship that one ought to have with that spouse.
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When you severely edit an article there is always a danger of misunderstanding. The above quoted paper is worth reading in its entirety. Again we encourage all our readers to send for a copy of the complete text of this paper.
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